Backup device for welding, brazing, or soldering operation



H. E. WHITE 2,584,072

' BACKUP DEVICE FOR WELDING, BRAZING, OR SOLDERING OPERATION Jan. 29, 1952 Filed Nov. 29, 1947 FIG. 5

FIG.

INVENTOR. HERBERT E. WHITE ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 29, 1952 BACKUP DEVICE FOR WELDING; BRAZING, R SOLDERING OPERATION.

Herbert E. White, Cleveland Heights, Ohio:

Application November 29, 1947, .Seria1'No.-788,929

5.0laims. 1 This invention pertains to a" back-up device for use in a welding, brazing or soldering operation.

It is often desirable tosclose'a hole in a body oi 'meta'l by filling 'itup with solder or with metal melted by'welding equipment. Either-of these proceduresis'particularly difficult if the body of metal is thin.

It-"is" also difficult to perform welding operations on very thin sheets ofi metal as the. welding process; unless'iit is performed by a highly skilled person ,=-is apt to -melt through the thin' body of metal. Thus; the: welding of seams and the filling of holes is very difficult in thin material.

It is-ari-object of .this invention to provide a device: to enable a person to perform welding or'solderingxoperations on thin bodies of. metal.

A further object of this invention is to provide 'a device to enable axpersonzto fill .with weld or solderrmaterial. holes in bodies of 1 metal.

.Stillianother object Oftl'llSiil'lVGIltlOIl' is to provide'a. back-up device for'welding or soldering For a better understandingiof the-present ill-- vention; together with other and further objects thereof, reference is had to thefollowi-ng description taken in connection with the-accompanying drawings, and its scope will-bepointed out in the appended claims.

In accordance with a feature of the invention there isaprovi'ded a: back-up device for use in welding, brazing or soldering metal, especially thin sheet stock, comprising a back-up plate.

Means are provided securing the back-up plate.

to magnet means, and the magnet means are adapted to detachably securethe back-up plate to the sheet stock.

Inthe single sheet of drawing Fig. 1 is an iso- -metric view of one form of the. invention.

2 isa cross-sectional viewtaken alongline 29-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig; :3 isacross-sectional view similarvto Fig.1 2,

I showing.- the device connected-to a metallic body.

Fig.4.is an end view of the device shown. in. Figs. .1 to. 3 connected to. a-nonmagnetiosheet offmetal.v

Fig-5 is an isometric view showing a-smodifled type of device. and

1 Figs. 6' and '7 illustrate by isometric views two i 2 back up plates which may be used with-tiradevice of the invention.

With reference-to Fig. 1, the back-updevice comprises a back-up plate l0 preferably madeof non-magnetic material and" magnet means-H.

' Securing means are provided i'or securing. the

back-up plate H to the magnet means; The securing means shown comprises a' thin shaft 12 having a ball l3 at its'lower end andhaving an enlarged head M at its other end. The enlarged head His positionedin a hole IS in the magnet means and a nut lfi is threadedinto'the hole- [5; The shaft I2 is positioned in ahol'e extending through the nut l6, and: theihole through the nut 16 1s" suifi'cientl-y small-that it will not permit the enlarged head Wto pass; It thereby secures the shaft I 2' to the mag-netmeans II. A spring H3 is mounted co-axi'ally around the shaft l2l'with one of its ends pressedagaiiist the nut IS. The back-up plate lll is replaceably connected to the ball [3 of" the thin shaft 12, thereby compressing the spring slightly? and holding it in place. Tli'e'spring 'thus biasesb' the back-up plate lll away "from? the magnet I l.

When" the magnet I I isbroughti into engagement with a sheet of paramagnetimmaterial .20 the magnetic forces set "up between the-t-sheet 2 ll and the magnet Il servetoholdthe two bodies together. The spring lfl is not suiliciently strong to resist the attraction of the-magnet lliorxth'e metallicsheet 20 so. it'isifurther compressed. This causes the 'backeup'plate I 0 totbe. resiliently biased toward the sheet 20. Thefhole. [5 indie magnet means ll shouldb'e deepienough ton-accommodate'thehead.endof the shaft l2 a'srthe back-up plate 1 is. retracted until itsitouter face lies' in'theplanei defined by the end faces- 0f. the magnet .legsZl, 22.

The sheet. 21 may have through it a ho1e125 which is tob'e' filled with: solderouwhicli is to' be welded shut. The back-up, plate in should be positioned directly behind the hole-2.5, thus serving; to prevent the:.molten:meta-l from falling through the hole-.25: while the: operator: of the soldering orwelding equipment seeks 'to closerit. It is prefera'ble to. make the back-up plate I0 of a metal such as brass or copper towhich solder and weld metals will notreadily adhereso that the device can be easily removed after the hole is-filled-up; andits surface will remain" flat'so that itcan' be used over and overzagain. Ametal back-up platelll also serves toconduct excess heataway. from thewelded' spot.. It. may, some applications, be desirable to use a back-up plate- II! which serves to localize and retain the heat. In such instance the back-up. plate-may be made ofan insulating material.

In. order that'the-back -up plate Ill-will :readily adjust.itself-toanysmall angle-at which the body shoe, this is not essential. lustrated a back-up device comprised of a first member 32 and the back-up plate ill. device is connected to a piece of metal the shaft is to be soldered or welded may be inclined with respect to the ends of the magnet legs 2!, 22, a ball and socket joint is provided between the shaft l2 and the back-up plate 10. A socket member I! is secured to the back-up plate by means of screws l8, and the ball 13 fits sufliciently loose in the socket that the back-up plate can pivot easily with respect to the shaft 12.

The aforedescribed device is very easily and quickly connected to any body of parametic metal, and is just as easily and quickly removed, thus forming a tool which is of value for production soldering or welding. The device may also be used for nonproduction soldering and welding as the ease with which it may be handled and its flexibility are of great importance. Where a back-up plate of some shape other than that shown in the drawing is to be used, the operator merely unscrews the plate l0 and screws another one on. Thus the shape of the back-up plate maye be quickly and easily changed to meet the varying requirements of the service to which the device is put.

In the event that the sheet having a hole therein to be filled is made of a non-magnetic material, such for example as of aluminum, the backup device is secured to it by utilizing an extra piece of magnetic material, as shown in Fig. 4. The construction of the back-up device is exactly the same as the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 3, but the sheet metal 20 is non-magnetic. A horseshoe-shaped piece of soft iron 21 is provided, and its legs 28, 29 are spaced apart the same distance as the legs 2|, 22 of the magnet The piece of soft iron 27 is applied to the side of the metal sheet 20 opposite the magnet 'H and the magnetic forces established through "the sheet 20 are sufficient to hold both the magnet II and the soft iron piece 21 in place while the hole is filled. By making the soft iron piece 21 horseshoe-shaped, it leaves the hole 25 'free to be worked on.

While the magnet means shown in Figs. 1 through 4 have been shown shaped as a horse- In Fig. 5 there is ilbar magnet 30 and a second bar magnet 31, connected together by means of a bridge member 32. The bridge member 32 need not necessarily be made of magnetic material. The shaft l2 extends up through a hole in the bridge 32 and ter- 'minates in a head 33.v The shaft [2 slides easily in the hole through the bridge 32, and the spring [9 is slightly compressed between the bridge 12 slides up through the hole in the bridge 32.

'It may often be desirable to use the back-up device on non-planar surfaces, and the ends of the magnet legs and the back-up plate may be made any shape for convenient usage. Thus,

' as is shown in Fig. 5, one or more of the ends of the magnet legs 30, 3| may be tapered to allow it to fit into a corner.

For backing up seams in corners a back-up angle and having holes 31, 38 into which screws may be connected for securing the back-up plate to the magnet means, may be used. If the seam is in a curved body, a curved back-up plate like the one shown in Fig. '7 may be provided.

While there have been described what are at present considered to be the preferred embodi- As the 4 ments of this invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and it is, therefore, aimed in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A small, unitary, self-contained back-up device for use in welding or soldering thin sheet stock comprising, horseshoe-shaped permanent magnet means having two spaced apart legs terminating substantially in a plane, a back-up plate, and. connector means securing said backup plate to said magnet means with said back-up plate located between said legs, said connector means including spring means normally biasing said back-up plate to a location beyond the ends of said legs.

2. A small, unitary, self-contained back-up device for use in welding or soldering thin sheet stock comprising, permanent magnet means having two spaced apart interconnected legs terminating substantially in a plane, a back-up plate of non-ferrous material, connector means secured to said plate means and secured to said magnet means for holding said plate means between said legs and including spring means normally biasing the back-up plate to a location beyond the ends of said legs and including selfaligning means whereby when said legs are magnetically secured against sheet stock the said back-up plate is retracted against the bias of said spring means.

3. A back-up device for use in welding or soldering thin sheet stock comprising, horseshoe shaped permanent magnet means having two spaced apart legs each terminating in a planar face, a shaft one end of which is slidably connected to said magnet means and which is positioned between saidlegs, back-up plate means connected to the other end of said shaft, and spring means biasing said shaft and said backup plate away from said magnet means to a normal position beyond the plane defined by the ends of said legs.

4. A back-up device as claimed in claim 3, further characterized by said back-up plate means including a plate and self-aligning swivel means securing said plate to said shaft.

5. A back-up device as claimed in claim 3, further characterized by said spring means surrounding said shaft with one of its ends against said magnet means and the other of it sends against said back-up plate means.

HERBERT E. WHITE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,332,937 Van Versen Mar. 9, 1920 1,481,906 Jackson Jan. 29, 1924 1,901,634 Dawkins Mar. 14, 1933 1,902,051 Wall Mar. 21, 1933 2,254,314 Reed Sept. 2, 1941 2,256,634 Webb Sept. 23, 1941 2,289,458 Rodgers July 14, 1942 2,314,788 Innes Mar. 23, 1943 2,357,170 Burggraf Aug. 29, 1944 2,379,136 Erwin June 26, 1945 2,393,198 Sommerville Jan. 15, 1946 

